I Received Messages From Future Self!

Chapter 154: Chapter 154 Tom’s Thoughts

Hearing the waiter ask if he needed anything else to drink, Tom’s head shook like a rattle-drum, almost creating a blur.

“No more, no more, can’t drink another drop.”

Fearing his words lacked persuasion, Tom waved his hands repeatedly, even pointing at his slightly bulging belly.

Watching Tom’s comical gestures, the waiter’s pretty face turned red but she maintained her smile.

“Check, please!”

Tom picked up his phone, signaling the waiter to scan the code.

The smiling waiter handled Tom’s bill.

But that blushing pretty face seemed to be having a hard time no matter how you looked at it.

As soon as Tom paid the bill, he fled in total embarrassment.

Too embarrassing!

As a foreigner, to get plastered in a coffee shop as if he’d never had coffee before was really humiliating.

Tom left the coffee shop with his stomach swollen uncomfortably.

He hesitated for a moment but decided to head back to his room to rest for a while, thinking it risky to move too much now for fear of a sagging stomach.

Tom took out his phone, opened WeChat, and sent a message to Fang Xiaocao.

[Tom: Princess Your Highness, I think Han Xue might not have left. It’s very likely she’s still near the hotel, or she might even be hiding in the underground parking lot.]

[Tom: So I plan to rest for a bit and go out tonight with tools to hack into nearby shops’ surveillance systems. From the video footage, I’ll look for pedestrians who resemble Han Xue.]

Tom composed his thoughts into a message and sent it to Fang Xiaocao.

In room 507!

Fang Xiaocao, who was monitoring room 512 through surveillance, switched to the WeChat interface after seeing the message from Tom.

After reading Tom’s WeChat, Fang Xiaocao pondered for a moment and felt his plan was feasible.

Blindly searching wasn’t the answer.

It was better to let Tom hack into all the nearby shops’ surveillance systems, just like he’d invaded the hotel’s system, and check through the footage one by one.

Fang Xiaocao also believed Han Xue hadn’t gone far.

She was likely still lingering near the hotel.

After all, no one understood the extent of Han Xue’s madness better than Fang Xiaocao.

Han Xue was the kind of woman who wouldn’t stop until she achieved her goal.

The first person Han Xue sought after escaping from the psychiatric hospital was her, Fang Xiaocao.

Clearly, Han Xue was out to kill her.

Now that Han Xue knew she was in the hotel and had even heard the policeman in room 508 give himself away, Han Xue must think she was in room 508.

Why would Han Xue miss such a good opportunity?

With this in mind, Fang Xiaocao replied to Tom’s WeChat: “Okay, I also believe Han Xue wouldn’t go too far and is likely lingering around the hotel.”

After seeing the message from Fang Xiaocao, Tom nodded in agreement. It seemed his Princess Your Highness shared his thoughts.

Tom put away his phone and walked into the hotel lobby, heading towards the elevator…

He had barely reached the elevator when a policeman stopped him.

“Good evening, sir, please show your room card,” the policeman said to Tom in a stern voice.

At these words, Tom was startled.

He immediately took out his room card from his pocket.

Tom handed the room card to the policeman.

The policeman didn’t take the card, just glanced at it, nodded, and indicated that Tom could enter the elevator.

Tom shrugged and pocketed his room card.

He entered the elevator with an air of ease and pressed the button for his floor.

As the elevator doors closed, Tom shook his head slightly.

Such perfunctory checks were practically a formality.

Tom had many ways to bypass the checks and easily blend into the hotel.

Tom began to feel more and more that Han Xue might have already slipped into the hotel.

But…

Tom had no evidence!

Tom decided that during his rest, he would review the hotel’s surveillance footage from that time period.

Tom wanted to see if Han Xue was as smart as he thought, if she understood the saying, “The most dangerous place is the safest.”

That was a famous Chinese saying.

It encompassed a lot!

For instance, psychology!

If he, a foreigner, understood it, then Han Xue, a Chinese and a smart person at that, surely couldn’t be ignorant of it, right?

“Ding dong!”

The elevator door slowly opened, and Tom walked into the corridor.

Back in his room, Tom changed clothes, lay in bed, and began to playback the hotel’s surveillance footage.

At the same time, Fang Xiaocao also exited the surveillance footage of the fifth-floor corridor and switched to the one of the hotel lobby.

Fang Xiaocao shared Tom’s sentiments.

She too believed it was very likely that Han Xue had entered the hotel.

…

Municipal Bureau!

Upon hearing the report that nearly half of the Major Case Unit, including the Criminal Investigation Team captain Song Lin, the Major Case Unit head Wang Qiang, and the deputy head Luo Fei, were injured and hospitalized, the chief was stunned and quickly inquired into what had happened.

After learning the sequence of events, even the composed chief was shocked.

A devilish criminal previously declared dead, who had committed numerous crimes across multiple provinces and cities, was actually alive. After killing a mother and child, he had disguised himself and reappeared in Tang City, also carrying extremely dangerous firearms.

Even the chief, a man accustomed to difficult situations and hardened by experience, broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this.

Fortunately, Song Lin had discovered it in time, recognized Axi before he could do something heinous, and promptly organized a team to apprehend him.

Despite paying a heavy price, with four officers shot, they had successfully apprehended Axi. It was a costly loss but a significant achievement.

The fact that no civilians were harmed was the best news.

The chief immediately ordered a direct oversight of the case and sent people to the hospital to check on the conditions of Song Lin and the others.

After understanding the handling process of Wang Qiang and Song Lin, the chief, with his background in criminal investigations, immediately issued orders to issue a warrant for Axi’s female companion and to swiftly verify her identity.

A woman who consorted with Axi couldn’t possibly be any good, likely having a criminal record or already being a wanted fugitive.

All female suspects with records or on the run were to be thoroughly investigated, with those fitting the description detained immediately for cooperation with the Municipal Bureau’s inquiries.

Those not found were to be treated as suspects.

Moreover, he sent the Municipal Bureau Criminal Investigation Second Team to urgently arrest the middle-aged man who provided false testimony, treating him as an accomplice.

If the middle-aged man dared to resist, they were authorized to shoot to kill depending on the situation.

Under the chief’s wrathful orders, the bureau sprang into action. The Second Team, fully armed, descended in force upon the middle-aged man’s residence.

The Third Team took charge of verifying and screening the identity of the woman.

The First Team continued their assignment at the hotel, lying in wait for the possible appearance of Han Xue.

Upon hearing that Wang Qiang was out of danger and had regained consciousness, the chief immediately set off for the hospital to visit Wang Qiang and inquire about his criminal investigation strategy.